Come on mate, I had to listen to pages of tripe from someone who does not even know about the most basic economic or legal principles (duty of care). Worse, I was insulted whilst that was going on (and you know it). I am not Mother Theresa, I have my limits.

FTR Spark I've reported you for your condescending posting throughout the thread and your abuse of power. I hate doing that ****, but if you're going to abuse your power I have to rely on what little I have.

Ikki- you keep debating a subject that has now been done to death. Every point and counterpoint has been made, wouldn’t you agree?. At this point, there is really nothing new to cover so you just need to move on. This is no longer a suggestion, but rather instructions from the mod team. That goes for everyone replying to Ikki as well.

Mate, you saw me leave it when you asked before. Others replied misconstruing what I was saying so I replied for clarity's sake, not to troll. I will follow your instructions. I was attempting to before by bringing up important news in Gingrich leaving.

I supported him over Kerry in the 2008 primaries. I've never felt more betrayed by a politician in my life. I sincerely thought he was the real deal and felt very disillusioned after the truth came out.

Not really. Politics is dirty by its nature, we shouldn't be surprised when things happen in politics that don't look great. Character assassination isn't just allowed, it's required. That also means that we should be sensible when judging them, ofc.

There is no such thing as the real deal. There are a lot of good people in politics but the fact remains that they are in politics.

I disagree. I personally know people in politics that are completely sincere about the need to bring about positive change and practice what they preach. In fact, they could make more money and live a less stressful life outside of politics, but they dedicate their life to better society (according to their political beliefs of course). By “real deal” I don’t mean a perfect human being who’s infallible. No one amongst us like that. But in the case of John Edwards, I really did believe in the “hope is on its way” slogan. He of course was primarily interested in assuming power; and the slogan was merely a slogan for him that helped him achieve that goal.

Politics is an ambitious and dirty game which forces you to do things that are outside your “perfect world” morals. However, there is still a line that shouldn’t be crossed and Edwards certainly crossed it. As I said, I know people in politics who may not be perfect, but are not the sleaze balls that Edwards is.

The Drug Enforcement Administration extended an apology to a University of California engineering student who was locked in a holding cell for more than four days and forgotten about. The student drank his own urine in desperation and attempted to kill himself, before agents returned four days later and found him.

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Chong said he was at a friend’s house in University City celebrating 4/20, a day many marijuana users set aside to smoke, when agents came inside and raided the residence. Chong was then taken to the DEA office in Kearny Mesa.
He said agents questioned him, and then told him he could go home. One agent even offered him a ride, Chong said. No criminal charges were filed against him.
But Chong did not go home that night. Instead, he was placed in a cell for five days without any human contact and was not given food or drink. In his desperation, he said he was forced to drink his own urine.
“I had to do what I had to do to survive….I hallucinated by the third day,” Chong said. “I was completely insane.”

I saw that story, it's simply horrible. I can't even imagine the poor guy's ordeal. Keep in mind that he was handcuffed the entire time. That's worse than solitary punishment and would be as close to hell on Earth as you could get.